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Fiat Chrysler CEO: Please Don't Buy Our Electric Car

Posted by timothy on from the collector's-item-in-advance dept.

schwit1 (797399) writes "The CEO of Fiat Chrysler said he hopes that people don't buy his company's electric car, the Fiat 500e, which he is forced to sell at a loss because of state and federal mandates. 'I hope you don't buy it because every time I sell one it costs me $14,000,' Sergio Marchionne told the audience at the Brookings Institute during a discussion of the auto bailout. 'I'm honest enough to tell you that I will make the car, I'll make it available which is my requirement but I will sell the limit of what I need to sell and not one more,' said Marchionne. Fiat Chrysler produces two Fiat 500s. The gas-powered Fiat 500 has a base price of $17,300. The electric Fiat 500e runs $32,650. In his candid remarks, Marchionne blamed regulations set in place in California and by President Obama." (Also at USA Today.) If they find they're selling too many for comfort, couldn't they raise the price?

3 of 462 comments (clear)

  1. Raise the Price by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, they can't. CA Regulations don't allow electric alternatives to be n% more than gas.

    1. Re:Raise the Price by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Informative

      How is he short sighted? The Republicans have fuck him and his company. They want to put him and all of his employees out on the streets. To their kind, autoworkers are scum that need to starve. That is their world. That is why they are doing this to him. They are forcing him at gunpoint to sell cars at a loss until they go out of business.

      Are you saying that the oil and coal burning/global warming denying republicans are forcing Chrysler to sell electric cars (at a loss) "at gunpoint"? And they're going to hurt the oil and coal industries so they can add the autoworkers to the unemployed?

      Marchionne blamed regulations set in place in California and by President Obama.

      I must have missed when the president switched parties. Obama the Republican. Who knew.

  2. He'll have his work cut out for him by Steffan · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's a fantastic car. I've had mine for about nine months and after having owned an number of rather expensive (and inexpensive) cars, this is probably my favorite.

    I've never driven a gas-powered Fiat 500, but I imagine the build quality is similar. It's surprisingly comfortable and well built for a car in its price range. I'm pretty particular about the noise levels in my cars and the electric model is reported to have more sound dampening than the standard model; external noise is probably more obvious when there's no engine to mask it. Quiet, fantastic acceleration, and virtually no maintenance. There's a lot to like about this car.

    I hope they continue selling them. I've leased mine since the technology changes quickly enough that I expect better range / faster charging, or both within 3-4 years (plus competition from Tesla in that market segment), but if there were no other option I would definitely purchase mine at the end of the lease.

    This is my first electric car, but I can say unequivocally that I will never purchase another gas-powered car (unless it's an exotic / sports car). It really is that much of an improvement over internal combustion.*

    *For me. Obviously electric cars are not for _everyone_(yet). If you need to haul bales of hay up a mountainside four times a week, buy a truck.